Leaders of school technology innovation. A confirmatory factor analysis of the Change Facilitator Style Questionnaire (CFSQ)
| Pages | 576-593 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JEA-01-2012-0011 |
| Published date | 09 August 2013 |
| Date | 09 August 2013 |
| Author | Feng Liu,Albert Ritzhaupt,Cathy Cavanaugh |
| Subject Matter | Education |
Leaders of school technology
innovation
A confirmatory factor analysis of the Change
Facilitator Style Questionnaire (CFSQ)
Feng Liu, Albert Ritzhaupt and Cathy Cavanaugh
School of Teaching and Learning, College of Education, University of Florida,
Gainesville, Florida, USA
Abstract
Purpose – This paper aims to describe a construct validation study of the Change Facilitator Style
Questionnaire (CFSQ), an instrument designed to measure the leadership style of school principals as
change facilitators.
Design/methodology/approach – Participants included 614 K-12 teachers across the state of
Florida involved in the Enhancing Education Through Technology competitive grant program.
Teachers completed the CFSQ to assess their overall perceptions of their principals in supporting a
technology integration initiative. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was employed and carried out to
verify the instrument factor structure. Five models were developed based on theory and practice, and
were tested using CFA.
Findings – The results showed the evidence of the CFSQ’s reliability and validity.
Research limitations/implications – Further research was recommended based on the results and
limitations of this study.
Originality/value – Little research has connected principal style to classroom technology adoption.
The researchers conducted the reliability and validity testing on the CFSQ, an instrument designed to
measure the leadership style of the school principal as a change facilitator. This study provides
important validity evidence for the broader implementation of the CFSQ in future research studies.
It could shed light on the design and development of a rigorous instrument in educational research. It
can promote more research on technology-supported education and student learning outcomes
considering the need for more reliable and valid instruments in this field.
Keywords Principal leadership, Educational technology, Innovation, CFSQ, Leadership style, CFA,
Principals, Educational innovation
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
Principal leadership has been a topic of investigation for several decades in educational
research (Hall and George, 1999; Hougen, 1984; Schiller, 1991). Much of the research
on principals has been concerned with the link between a prin cipal’s leadership and
student achievement (Andrews and Soder, 1987; Hallinger et al., 1996; Witziers et al.,
2003). Other research has attempted to measure or classify the styles of leadership
of school principals (Hall and George, 1999; Hall et al., 1984). “Just as the teacher
establishes the climate for the classroom, the school principal plays the significant role
in establishing the climate for the school” (Hall and George, 1999, p. 165). There is no
doubt a tenable relationship between a school climate and a principal’s leadership style.
In fact, this relationship has been investigated in the research literature (Griffith, 1999).
In particular, an area of interest has been the role of principals in integrating new
innovations within the fabric of our educational enterprises.
School principals serve as change agents within their schools in the process of
adopting new innovations, such as educational technologies (Dooley, 1998). Teachers
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Received 21 January 2012
Revised 29 April 2012
1 June 2012
24 June 2012
Accepted 28 June 2012
Journal of Educational
Administration
Vol. 51 No. 5, 2013
pp. 576-593
rEmeraldGroup Publishing Limited
0957-8234
DOI 10.1108/JEA-01-2012-0011
576
JEA
51,5
will respond to these innovations in different ways, often contingent upon how a
principal leads within a school. Analysts of technology have recognized an exponential
rate of technical change that influences education and culture (Kurzweil, 2004; de
Garis, 2010). Education organizations respond in a variety of ways to change in
technology and culture, from hesitance to enthusiasm. Increasingly, students, parents,
employers, and community leaders are expecting schools to adopt technology as an
integrated tool in education. Adoption of technology-suppo rted education innovations
by a teacher or a school is an adaptation to changes in the conditions in which children
live, the conditions in which they will be expected to succeed beyond their schooling,
and our knowledge about the nature of learning. School technology integration is an
organizational shift and a form of innovation that involves openness and responsiveness
to these changes. The quality of organizational change is a factor of an education
organization’s culture (Whetten and Cameron, 1994). Organizational culture provides a
holistic perspective for understanding a school’s adoption of an innovation like
educational technology (Peterson and Spencer, 1993). Leaders of successful innovation
tend to be “tuned into the core values of their organizations” (McDermott and O’Dell, 2001,
p. 81), facilitating change as a way to realize a core value more fully. Further, in
organizations where change facilitation is especially effective, leaders model the
innovation, participate in the innovation, and take explicit steps to enable the innovation
to occur.School principalsor leaders play an importantrole in the adoptionof technology-
supported education in school learning environments (Hew and Brush, 2007).
In fact, studies have documented the central role of school leadership in effective
educational technology programs (Anderson and Dexter, 2005). School leadership can
affect teachers’ attitudes toward the innovation adoption (Granger et al., 2002;
Hall and George, 1999) and the school technology integration (Fox and Henri, 2005;
Granger et al., 2002; Hew and Brush, 2007; Hughes and Zachariah, 2001; Lawson and
Comber, 1999).
A prerequisite to effective school technology integration programs is teacher
professional development at the outset and continuing through the implementation of
the innovation. Such organizational learning is influenced by leaders, and is facilitated
by leaders who encourage creative ideas, nurture promising practices in their initial
stages, provide resources needed to develop new ideas, encourage experimentatio n
with new approaches, and use reflection to analyze new processes (Yukl, 2009).
To promote studies in school technology integration, a reliable and valid instrument is
needed to measure the construct: school princip al leadership. Hall and George (1999)
designed and developed the Change Facilitator Style Questionnaire (CFSQ) to
measure how school principals are perceived by their teachers to lead the c hange
adoption process. The indicators of the leadership style such as the principal’s concern
for the teachers during the change process and the balance between school long-
term goals and day-to-day activities are addressed by the CFSQ (Hall and George,
1999). The purpose of this research is to demonstrate the construct validity
of the CFSQ based on principals supporting teac hers in a technology integration
initiative.
Defining the CFSQ
The CFSQ was created originally from the 77-item pool that was designed by Gene Hall
and Roland Vandenberghe in 1987 to measure the school principal leadership style as
perceived by teachers. There were three clusters in the item pool, each of which has
two bipolar dimensions: concern for people – social/i nformal and formal/meaningful;
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School
technology
innovation
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